Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's vision that made Bengal self-sufficient in both agriculture and MSME sector has now ensured much lower unemployment rate in the state compared to that of in the country.
This comes when the state government fought against two contradictory situations as super cyclone Amphan had left lakhs of people homeless by causing a massive devastation at a time when the state government was already fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.
Quoting a recent data of a leading business information group CMIE, the state Finance Minister Amit Mitra tweeted stating that unemployment rate at the national level is 23.48 per cent as per the CMIE's data of May 2020 while it is 17.41 per cent in Bengal despite twin challenges of Covid and Cyclone. The situation is much better in Bengal.
The continuous effort of the Chief Minister in improving basic infrastructure for agriculture and MSME sectors and at the same time creating a local market as well for the same has saved the state from an increase in unemployment rate despite the lockdown for the past two months.
Explaining the reason behind the low unemployment rate in Bengal, economist Abhirup Sarkar said: "Agriculture and MSME sector in Bengal is protected from outside shock. Recession and lockdown due to COVID-19 has affected the global economy. Those more dependent on outside were badly affected.
It is the main reason behind lower unemployment rate in Bengal."
He further said: "Here in Bengal we are insulated as a larger part of the local produce is sold locally. That is what our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is saying now." According to a large section of business analysts, the model of sailing local produce in the local market has become successful in Bengal as besides creating better infrastructure for agriculture and industries, various steps of the state government have also helped in creating a better market for sale of the produce at the right price.
In the past nine years, the Bengal government has created infrastructure including introduction of heavy machineries for the agriculture sector. Land taxes were waived for the same and financial assistance was given to farmers under various schemes.
Similarly, necessary infrastructure for the MSME sector was also set up. Number of MSME clusters went up to 521 in 2019. It was only 49 till 2011.
During the lockdown period, the state government has created 13.2 lakh mandays by engaging the state's MSME and Self Help Group (SHG) sectors in making masks, PPEs and hand sanitisers.